Amazon just teased the future of the Echo

Amazon has big ambitions for the Echo, its little
voice-controlled speaker.

In an interview at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference, Amazon's
Mike George, who leads the development of Echo, hinted
at a not-so-distance future in which the Echo will
be the hub for everyone's smart home devices.

Instead of telling the Echo to turn on the lights or adjust
the temperature with a Nest thermostat, the Echo could learn a
person's daily routine and respond to a simple command
like, "Alex, I'm home."

George also touched on how the Echo changes how people search for
things. Instead of using Google to search for what you need,
you just ask Echo and it gives you one result.

"I do think we’re making accessing information materially
simpler," he said during the interview. "The way search
works today, you, the human has to disambiguate the list. We do a
lot of work to figure out what you meant and come out with the
one right answer you’re looking for.”

The Echo, which responds to the name "Alexa," lets
developers and hardware makers tie into its voice assistant
technology. The goal is for the Echo to eventually let you
control and talk to everything, including your apps, TV,
fridge, and even your car.

Amazon VP Mike George talked about the present and
future of the Echo onstage at Disrupt 2016.Getty